Shop Above Par

It’s Above Par: These Antique-Inspired Seals Can Transport You to Anywhere in the World

For fine jewelry designer Shari Cohen, travel drives inspiration and creativity–and each material sourced from a unique global destination becomes a portal back into time, space, and place. Her brand, Seal & Scribe, was fueled by her perspective as a world traveler, and her pieces are transportative, crafted with elegance, mystery, and beauty inspired by bygone eras. Think: antiques, rare stones, and head-turning designers. According to Shari, “You might say I have become an expert international seeker-outer of unique pieces of art or crafts that I can bring home, each one reminding of the people, places, sights and sounds I have been lucky enough to experience.”

While she shops for antiques and artifacts to inspire and develop her exquisite designers, she also sources pieces beyond boutiques and stores. She collected a piece of tumbled amethyst once from a gentleman on the side of the road on Zomba Mountain in Malawi. “I also picked up two rocks on a walkabout at the Rift Valley Lodge, where I was facilitating a learning event. The Rift Valley is known as the ‘cradle of mankind’, where human beings originated, and when I hold these two rocks in my hands, I can still experience the sights, sounds, and scents of Kenya – women singing as they set up their craft stalls, the scent of cooking fires wafting on a light breeze across the valley floor, and the sound of peacocks on the hotel ground,” she shares.

Then, there are the works of nature that just require the expert eye of a collector too. “I love collecting shells, it is so relaxing and one of the few activities where I really can shut out the rest of the world and just be in the moment, with the sound of the sea’s ebb and flow as a soundtrack, the feel of sand beneath my feet, and the excitement of finding some beautiful shells is a bonus. These are from a trip to Zanzibar, collected on the beaches near Nungwi Village on the northernmost tip of the island.”

From one-of-a-kind pave-embellished seals to jeweled love letters, Seal & Scribe’s pieces are undoubtedly above par. So, we tapped the designer to learn more about how she started her line and how travel drives her inspiration today.

How did this all start?

“Before I ever began collecting antique intaglio seals, I purchased two very special seals or ‘chops’ as they are called throughout Asia. The first was on a very special consultancy assignment in Mongolia in 1998. Back then Mongolia was opening up to foreigners vis a vis international development, but tourism was almost non-existent. As a lifelong horse lover and equestrian, I was in heaven there with all the wild and domestic horses.

One day, I was wandering through a small bazaar on the outskirts of Ulaanbataar, the capital city, and I came upon a man carving chops, or seal stamps, out of wood. We managed to communicate in my rudimentary Mongolian, his hand signals, and a shopkeeper who had basic English skills. When he found out I loved horses and the horses of Mongolia in particular, he lit up and rummaged through his bag of sticks looking for something for me. He pulled out a stick he’d been saving and showed me that the bottom of it, where he had sanded it smooth so he could carve on it, was shaped like a horse’s hoof. I knew it was meant to be, and we got to work designing the carving. If I remember correctly, it is more or less my name written in Mongolian phonetically. It is one of my most treasured possessions from one of my most memorable trips, and it was a precursor to me becoming a jewelry designer specializing in using antique seals as the centerpieces of my jewels.”

The second time I purchased another seal, again years before I started my fine jewelry business, was when I was working in Hanoi, Vietnam, again for the United Nations. I was there several times over a few years, and early on I had used my weekends to get to know Hanoi well by shopping and eating my way through Hanoi’s tiny labyrinth of streets. One day I walked past a shop so narrow I almost didn’t realize it was a shop, it was maybe five feet wide at most. The owner was a self-taught professional stone carver, who specialized in hand carving custom chop seals. He also took in homeless children and taught them his craft, allowing them to live with him while they learned. Then they apprenticed with him before going out on their own. I loved his life’s mission, and I ordered so many seals that trip, all to be gifted to friends and family, but mostly so I could support his work. When you take time to poke around the little nooks and crannies, alleyways and off the beaten path shops and eateries, you really start to get to know a place like a local. This seal represents many years’ worth of being able to get to know Hanoi deeply, and I will forever be grateful for those experiences and opportunities. I love that each seal he creates is double-sided, with one side being etched into the stone and the other side the reverse, etched outward.”

How does travel inspire your work?

“Today, as a fine jewelry designer, I use my travel experience to always be on the lookout for antique seals, but more so for anything that spurs inspiration and creativity for my future designs. Each special piece becomes a little portal back to wherever I discovered them.

I have been blessed to have a few ‘home away from home’ locations that I have returned to many times over the years, and Bangkok is at the top of that list…Over the years I have collected a small group of beautifully hand-carved elephants, made from ebony wood, purchased at a small shop in the O.P. Plaza Arcade, next to the Oriental Hotel. Each animal is so life-like with detailed textures and gestures, and each piece is signed in Thai on the bottom feet of each elephant. I also have found absolute treasures at the River City Shopping Arcade, a bit further up river. One piece in particular was found nestled amongst old writing materials in a favorite shop in River City Arcade. It is a blue enamel and silver pendant depicting a Royal Thai emblem, with hand engraved writing. Meant as a token of appreciation, these pendants were gifted to favorite friends and visitors of HRH Pravimadather Krompra Suddhasininart, who in 1890 founded the first orphanage in Thailand. This piece is a treasured momento from what I consider my ‘second home’ country..”

Tell us about another piece and how it transports you back to a time and place.

“I have been fortunate to spend a considerable amount of time in Myanmar, working for the United Nations. During that time, I have always made perusing market’s part of my weekend downtime routine. This vintage, early 1900’s elephant-shaped teapot, and two lacquer and gold leaf Buddhist disciples are very dear to me, as I have very fond memories of the shopkeeper I got to know over a couple of months, and he lives on in my memories each time I look at these objects.”